Originally Posted by THG

The facts are that if any one of you were offered a lot more money by another company, for doing exactly the same job -- you'd all probably jump at it. Don't try to deny it!

Maloney's no different. He fulfilled the terms of his contract with Celtic, gave them a chance to meet his wage requirements, and when they didn't - he went elsewhere, to a club which agreed to meet his demands. Tough! But that's business, and Celtic know it.

He was sold for 1M ONLY because he had less then 6 months to go on his contract with Celtic at that time. Had he NOT been sold, he could have walked away for NOTHING 5 months later. At the time the 1M sale was regarded as a smart piece of business by Celtic, as they couldn't keep him after refusing to pay him what he thought he was worth.

His existing contract with Aston Villa still has 2-3 years to run, so Celtic have to pay more than 1M to get him back. And he's actually taking a sizeable wage cut to come back. The media reported at the time that Celtic had offered him 16K a week. Apparently he's signing now for 20K a week which isn't unreasonable, 18 months later.

To those who greet and whinge about "traitors" and Judas's" -- get a life! Celtic could have kept him if they'd met his wage demands. They refused to, so he moved on. That happens all the time in football, and it's actually the reason we manage to sign players from other clubs too, believe it or not!

The question should be, "Does signing Maloney (or anyone else) make our team better?" If the answer is "Yes!" then that's ALL that's required. Fans with petted lips, who get all huffy certainly don't add a thing to the team.